Brassiere

ABSTRACT

A brassiere is provided with a pair of underbust pieces separately attached to the lower portions of the cups and to an encircling band. The pieces are of a material that is stretchable in certain directions only and unstretchable in a direction beginning from the lower lateral edge of each underbust piece extending diagonally upwards to a point at or near the mid-center of the lower edge of a seam formed between the cups. The length and width of the garment adjusts according to tension placed on the underbust pieces by the band and the volume of the lower portions of the cups varies generally according to the amount of tension placed laterally on the lower portions of the cups and the underbust pieces. A floating stay is provided between the cups to control the change in volume of the lower portions of the cups.

United States Patent [191 May [ BRASSIERE [76] Inventor: James L. May, P.O. Box 938, 219 S.

OConnor St., Irving, Tex. 75060 [22] Filed: May 25, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 256,875

[451 Nov. 13, 1973 Primary Examiner-Werner H. Schroeder Attorney-Gerald Altman et a1.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A brassiere is provided with a pair of underbust pieces separately attached to the lower portions of the cups and to an encircling band. The pieces are of a material that is stretchable in certain directions only and unstretchable in a direction beginning from the lower lateral edge of each underbust piece extending diago' nally upwards to a point at or near the mid-center of the lower edge of a seam formed between the cups. The length and width of the garment adjusts according to tension placed on the underbust pieces by the band and the volume of the lower portions of the cups v'aries generally according to the amount of tension placed laterally on the lower portions of the cups and the underbust pieces. A floating stay is provided between the cups to control the change in volume of the lower portions of the cups.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Patented Nov. 13, 1973 BRASSIERE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to brassieres and more particularly is directed towards a self-adjusting brassiere characterized by cups the lower portions of which vary in volume according to tension placed thereon to provide proper support and better conformity.

2. Description of the Prior Art Brassieres are intended to provide bust support for the wearer. Conventional bras are configured so that the cup portions are fixed in volume and therefore fail to provide full and continuous support at various angles of the human body. Thus, a conventional bra is unsatisfactory, particularly for womenwho are physically active.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved bra adapted to provide both support and comfort under a variety of conditions.

Another object of this invention is to provide a bra wherein the cup volume varies according to the tension placed thereon.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention features a bra comprised of a pair of cups joined along a vertical center seam and provided with underbust pieces connected thereto and to an encircling band. The underbust pieces are attached in a crossover arrangement and are formed of a material having minimum stretch characteristics in one direction and significant stretchability in bias directions. The volume of the lower portions of the cups varies according to the amount of tension placed laterally on the lower portion of the cups and on the underbust pieces. The underbust pieces are oriented and so connected to the cups that tension applied on the underbust pieces will cause an increase in their length and at the same time decrease the vertical height of the lower portion of the cups with tension. A floating stay is provided between the cups to control the height of the cups even though their volume may decrease.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a brassiere made according to the invention,

FIGS. 2 (A) and (B) are front elevational views 7 showing the garment in a relaxed condition and in a tensioned condition, respectively, and,

FIGS. 3 (A) and (B) are views similar to FIGS. 2 (A) and (B) but showing a modification thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT -vertical seam 36 between the cups.

The underbust pieces 28 and 30 are of a material such as cotton broadcloth, for example, which has little or no stretchability in one direction but which will stretch when tentioned on the bias. Cotton broadcloth, for example, is comprised of warp and woof threads,

the warp threads normally having little or no stretch so that if the material is pulled or tensioned along a line parallel to the warp threads, the material will not stretch. However, when tensioned in a direction on the bias to the warp threads, the material will stretch. The underbust pieces 28 and 30 are of the same material and are mirror duplicates of one another.

The upper edge of the underbust piece 28 is attached as by sewing to the cup 12, the edge being contoured to conform closely in shape to the lower edge of the cup 28 by means of a seam 38 and extends across the midline of the body and by means of a seam 40 extends to the medial portion of the cup 14. The seam 40 closely follows the contour of the cup 14 and terminates at a point 42 close to or directly at the lower end of a vertical cup seam 44. The lower edge of the underbust piece 28, indicated by reference character 46, extends from the terminal point 42 at cup 14 across the midline of the body to the bottom of the bra. A s viewed in FIGS. 1 and-2, the underbust piece 28 at its left-hand end is attached to the encircling band 32. The underbust piece 28 is cut and so attached to the bra and its weave so oriented that its non-stretching direction extends along a dotted line 48 from a point 50 on or near the lower lateral edge 46 of the underbust piece 28, diagonally upwards to a point 52 at the base of seam 36. It will be understood that the material of the underbust piece 28 will display little or no stretch when tensioned along the line 48. However, the material above and below the dotted line 48 can be stretched by a lateral pull. The material above and below the dotted line 48 is on a varying bias so that it can stretch or increase in length according to the amount and angle of the pull which is placed on the lateral edges of the underbust pieces. Some portion or all of the portions of the cups 12 and 14 is also placed on the bias of the material so that the lower edges of the cups and the cups themselves can also increase in length laterally along with the underbust pieces.

The underbust piece 30 is a reversed duplicate of the piece 28, being of the same material withits unstretchable direction, indicated by a dotted line 54, extending from the point 52 diagonally downward to a point 56 at or near the lower edge of the underbustpiece 30 at the right-hand side thereof. The lower marginal edge of the underbust piece 30, indicated by reference character 58, extends in a criss-cross pattern over or under the underbust piece 28 to terminate at or near a medial point 60 at the lower edge of the cup 12. The upper edge of the underbust piece 30 is attached to conform:

to the contour of the cup 14 as well as a portion of the cup 12. The two underbust pieces which are separate, thus define a criss-cross arrangement.

The foregoing construction offers a number of advantages. First of all, the underbust pieces 28 and 30 are adapted to stretch in certain directions so as to be adjustable as to length and width according to tension placed on the underbust pieces by the encircling band 32 and/or by varying angles of the human body. For example, if the underbust pieces 28 and 30 are tensioned in the direction of-the arrows 62 and 64, the material will stretch or increase in length since the tension is on the bias of the material and is at an angle with respect to the non-stretch direction indicated by the dotted lines 48 and 54. If the underbust pieces are tensioned in the direction of the arrows 62 and 64, the underbust pieces 28 and 30 will stretch. When the material stretches, the underbust pieces will become narrower and, since the underbust pieces are connected to the cups, this will tension the cups downwardly and outwardly to reduce their volume as suggested in FIG.2(B) where the garment is shown in a tensioned condition. The result is that the volume of the lower portion of the cups 12 and 14 varies according to the amount of tension placed laterally on the lower portion of the cups and the underbust pieces. The volume of the lower portion of the cups and therefore the total volume of the cups decreases as tension on the underbust pieces is increased. This is achieved by increasing the length laterally and at the same time decreasing the vertical height of the lower portion of the cups where it is tensioned. This results in displacing the volume of the bust upwardly effectively increasing the lift of the cup.

When the garment is laterally tensioned, the underbust pieces, which are both connected at the common point 52 where the non-stretching directions of the material intersects and which is also at the base of the seam 36, will cause the seam 36 and the material between the cups to be pulled downwardly. This will have the effect of holding the seam 36 closer to the chest wall and at the same time produce better separation of the bust, decreasing the volume of the cups and increasing the lift to the breasts due to the decreased volumes in the lower portions of the cups.

Another feature involves the stay 34 which may be of rigid or semi-rigid material such as bone, plastic, spring steel or the like. The stay is placed between the cups and may be defined as a floating stay by reason of its mounting. The floating stay construction is particularly advantageous with the criss-crossing of the pieces 28 and 30.

The function of the floating stay is to maintain more constant the length as well as the height of the seam 36 together with the surrounding material between the cups. This permits the volume of the lower portions of the cups to be decreased without shortening the height of the seam 36 between the cups and thereby increase lift. The stay is defined as floating because the breasts push the stay, at its lower end especially, away from the body if the underbust piece or pieces are not rigid.

The lower edge of each underbust piece may be straight as in FIGS. 1 and 2 or it can be given various convex and concave shapes as suggested in the modification of FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, the lower edges of the two underbust pieces are contoured and the material will be unstretchable along the lines 48 and 54'. When the lower edge is shaped, the material below the dotted lines 48'and 54' can be given an almost unlimited ability to stretch. The underbust pieces will lie flat because of its increased ability to conform to the shape of the body without wrinkles.

Padded elastic material or the like can be sewn to th back of each separate underbust piece to improve the comfort of the pieces against the skin. However, the padded elastic material is not necessary for proper functioning of the pieces as described above.

Having thus described the invention what I claim and desire to obtain by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A brassiere, comprising a. a pair of cups connected to one another along a straight and generally tangential elongated seam seam formed between said cups,

b. an elongated stay mounted along said seam,

c. a band connected to the sides of said cups opposite said seam, and,

d. a pair of underbust pieces connected to said cups n to s is eads e. one of said pieces being attached along substantially the entire lower edge of one cup, across the lower end of said seam and along the lower edge of the other cup from said seam to a medial portion of the other cup,

f. the other of said pieces being attached along substantially the entire lower edge of the other cup, across the lower end of said seam and along the lower edge of the one cup from said seam to a medial portion of the one cup,

g. each of said pieces being substantially unstretchable along a line extending from a point substantially at the lower end of said seam to a point substantially at the lower lateral edge of each piece proximate said band and stretchable in directions on the bias to said line.

2. A brassiere according to claim 1 wherein said seam forms an elongated pocket and said stay is mounted in said pocket. 

1. A brassiere, comprising a. a pair of cups connected to one another along a straight and generally tangential elongated seam seam formed between said cups, b. an elongated stay mounted along said seam, c. a band connected to the sides of said cups opposite said seam, and, d. a pair of underbust pieces connected to said cups and to said band, pg,9 e. one of said pieces being attached along substantially the entire lower edge of one cup, across the lower end of said seam and along the lower edge of the other cup from said seam to a medial portion of the other cup, f. the other of said pieces being attached along substantially the entire lower edge of the other cup, across the lower end of said seam and along the lower edge of the one cup from said seam to A medial portion of the one cup, g. each of said pieces being substantially unstretchable along a line extending from a point substantially at the lower end of said seam to a point substantially at the lower lateral edge of each piece proximate said band and stretchable in directions on the bias to said line.
 2. A brassiere according to claim 1 wherein said seam forms an elongated pocket and said stay is mounted in said pocket. 